Conventionally, there have been business-to-business systems, which exchange information of business transactions and settlement processes between companies (B2B) through a network, by using Electronic Data Interchange (EDI), etc. In these conventional company-to-company business systems, on-line connections are made to client companies so that processes, such as ordering and order-receiving processes and settlements, are electronically executed. The EDI includes a business-protocol corresponding a cut-sheet format and a communication protocol for transmitting this protocol, and there are standards in respective business fields; for example, a FBA (Federation of Bankers Association) procedure is used in the monetary field, a JCA procedure is used in the distribution field, and an EIAJ standard is used in the manufacturers.
However, in the conventional company-to-company business systems using the EDI, there is a limitation in the amount of transfer data, and these systems are not suitable for a great amount of data communications. Moreover, there is a basic problem in the system structure in which work flows in respective business processes are not managed between companies in a systematic manner by using an easy method.
The following description will discuss the contents of this problem more specifically.
In the conventional company-to-company business systems, with respect to the exchanging system of technical information in business processes bridging between departments/companies, the EDI is not used because there are usually a great amount of data communications, with the result that the data exchanging is usually carried out on a sheet basis or a medium basis such as FDs and MOs. However, in the case when this is carried out through a plurality of departments, since it is difficult to know which department currently has a delay, it is necessary to make a confirmation by using telephone or facsimile, etc. For this reason, when an ordering company, etc., tries to confirm the current state of a job in the ordered company, etc., the means to be used is telephone, etc.; therefore, the resulting problem is that the confirmation is not made in real time.
Moreover, in the ordered company, etc., of a business process, since it is difficult to know the current stage in the work flow of the entire business process, the company cannot preliminarily confirm when the ordering information arrives, and the corresponding action is made after it has received the ordering information; therefore, the resulting problem is that the business procedure is not shortened. Furthermore, another problem is that since, in some cases, it is not possible to divide the business process into a plurality of jobs from a predetermined job so as to execute these in parallel with each other, some business processes are not handled properly.
Moreover, the ordered company, etc., of a business process needs to log in a main system that manages the work flow in order to confirm the current stage in the work flow of the entire business process. When each ordered company is allowed to refer to the process executing information, etc., all the information related to respective stages of the work flow might be shared by each company, with the result that information might leak to even those departments and companies that should not share the information.
Moreover, in the conventional company-to-company business systems using the EDI, since there is a limitation in the amount of transfer data, and since it is not suitable for a great amount of data transmission, only cut-sheets are electronically transferred, and the corresponding technical information is transferred later in the form of paper or recording media, etc. Therefore, even when the cut-sheets are received in real time, it is necessary to wait for the arrival of the technical information so as to carry out estimating processes, etc., resulting in a lengthened processing time as a whole.
Furthermore, in the conventional company-to-company business systems using the EDI, another problem is that, since a plurality of users (departments) are not allowed to use the system in one company, it is difficult to share data within the client.
In most of tools for generating work flows for the conventional company-to-company business systems using the EDI, high-grade of knowledge is required for forming a template of plans in many cases, and in many business designing processes, many returning of jobs (discarding), skipping of jobs (jumping), etc., occur; however, the conventional tools for generating work flows fail to handle such complex plans. Moreover, in the conventional work flow tools, since it is not possible to set the calendar independently, the setting of the deadline becomes indefinite. Furthermore, in the conventional work flow tools, another problem is that the number of issues of cut-sheets, documents, materials, etc., in association with the flow can not be managed. In the conventional work flow tools, still another problem is that, since cut-sheets, documents, materials, etc., in association with the flow are not compressed within the system, the user needs to compress these independently. Moreover, these work flow tools fail to set the deadline for a job in each stage.
Instead of transmitting technical information in the form of paper or recording medium, etc., electronic mails (E-Mail) may be used; however, in the case of electronic mails, it is not possible to confirm whether or not the information has positively been sent to the transmission end, and the transmission is sometimes difficult since most of the technical information requires a great capacity. Moreover, the transmission of the technical information using electronic mails raises a problem with security.
Moreover, in the conventional company-to-company business systems using the EDI, it is difficult for approvers for respective businesses to refer to information of data, except for data as printed materials, resulting in a problem with maintenance of evidence. Moreover, in the case when the approval stamps, examination stamps and attendant stamps are all effective, if, even when the upper-rank stamps have been finished, any lower-rank stamp has not been finished, the approval process can not be completed, resulting in degradation in the operability.
As described above, there are many problems in the conventional systems, etc., with the result that they are not convenient for any of the system users and managers, and they also fail to provide good business efficiency.